freedom

project: freedom

concept: communicate with a rock

year: 2018

research questions: How do we interact with a universe that might be absolutely random?

execution: I designed an experience that is using the exact opposite to pattern-reading and prediction-modeling in machine learning: A stone communicates with humans when they are in tune with the language of the universe - true and infinite randomness. Natural granite rock emits a small amount of radioactive particles, the moment of decay of each of them gets detected by a geiger-counter and is true random according to quantum-mechanics: it is called true randomness as it is impossible to predict when a particle decays. Which is rare - pretty much everything else in the universe can theoretically be roughly estimated given enough data, computational power and time. To get a feel for this unfamiliar phenomena, the user gently hammers at the rock. If their hammering pattern aligns with the random universal decay pattern, a solenoid underneath gets triggered and the rock hammers back. Each time a particle decays. In effect, the user can establish a form of communication with the true random particle decay of the granite rock. If the user is random enough, both can talk to each other in their very own random morse-code.